Former Red Bull fan makes allegiance clear with NYC FC tattoo

A former New York Red Bull fan and paying Supporters Club member has left no question where his allegiance lies, immortalizing his club affiliation with a New York City F.C. tattoo — the very first in club history.

“Why am I jumping ship?” the anonymous fan replies when asked about his move. “Born, raised and live in the city, I wear it like a badge of honor. Lifetime Yankee fan too. So when the announcement came, it just made sense and felt right.”

The tattoo was first published on the @NYCFC_SCtwitter account, drawing its fair share of praise from the budding fanbase — and a hefty dose of critique throughout social media, particularly from Red Bull and New York Cosmos supporters. The reaction matters little to the former Red Bull supporter, who sees a brighter future ahead in blue.

“Being part of something from Day 1 was also a big pull for me,” he explained. “The Man City angle doesn’t bother me. I even support another EPL team. MLS learned it’s lesson with Chivas and I think that’s evidenced by how distinct the NYCFC badge is from Man City’s.”

For this fan, who once sang full voice for the Red Bulls, NYC FC represents a fresh start. From their front office signings to their community involvement, NYC FC has already gained this fan’s confidence in a way the Red Bulls never could.

“I think they’ll be focused more on quality of football than advancing a beverage brand,” he explains. “I’ve already seen more community involvement and marketing outreach [from NYC FC]. Always felt Red Bull took the fans & supporters for granted.

“Any fan of MLS knows the success rate of expansion teams and should also know throwing boatloads of money and buying DPs does not translate into immediate success. That’s why landing [Head Coach] Jason Kreis was such a big move.”

That, along with the unveiling of the club’s badge, sealed his future with the 20th MLS franchise.

“Once the badge came out, I was struck by the interlocking NYC,” he said. “It felt timeless to me — bigger than just a soccer team. In my opinion, it will become as synonymous with NY soccer as the interlocking NY of the Yankees is to baseball in the city and the US.

“Getting it inked is not just an homage to the club, but to my city.”

Regardless of some of the backlash for the tattoo (which has forced this fan to keep his anonymity), he won’t reciprocate the hate, nor does he expect others to follow in his footsteps.

“I don’t think many will actually jump from Red Bull to NYC,” he says. “The guys and gals that are there at the Arena singing for the full 90 are pretty passionate.

“I’ll never hate Red Bull. That’s not an emotion I can manufacture and I’ve had a lot of fun supporting the team from when I first started following in 2006,” he explains. “I’m excited by what lays ahead for NY soccer. Derby day will be amazing, albeit more so when NYCFC has a stadium of their own.

“I look forward to supporting NYCFC and hosting Red Bull fans when they make their way to the Bronx.”

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It’s interesting he started with RBNY back in 2006. I wonder where are all those fans who left the team at the time then because of the change in ownership and whether they have aligned themselves with the Cosmos since their return or now with NYCFC.

Rob

He’s so proud of his association with NYFCF that he wishes to remain anonymous…

Rob

*NYCFC

Anonymous

Hahaha

Anonymous

“Yo’re”

ragazzo

So this dude is just a bandwagon fan? He jumped on the RB train when they took over the team in 2006 and now is hopping on the NYCFC train. I’m glad that this irrelevant story is on your site. Great work.

Dave from Dix Hills

Did you miss when Dave highlighted the RB tattoo last year? I mean, **** this guy and all, but this ain’t on EOS. It’s on this dummy.

The difference between these two tats and the fact that Dick Sacs didn’t feel the need to hide behind anonymity sums up everything you need to know about Metro supporters vs. the plastic blue team fans.

Furthermore, the NYCFC logo somehow looks even more boring etched into someone’s skin. How is that even possible?

Turncoat fan, only interested in the “sexiness”. Saw the badge, thought it looked cooler than the Red Bulls badge, and says more about HIM than either NY clubs. Good riddance, I say. Support the club, not the kit.

Why are some people so freaking dumb? Permanently altering your body for a “team” with no players and nowhere to play and whose very existence is greatly in doubt… just a dumb thing to do.

sosa

lol I grew up in the Bronx, went to school blocks from Yankee stadium. LOYALTY was one of the things instilled in our neighborhood, but I guess for some people its easier to just change their story.

Gruff and Manly Bob

he wanted to be part of something from the beginning and he was EST 2006 *giggles* Ok minor dig at my own team aside, if your that passionate about it make it known. Someone’s going to see it eventually unless you got it on your ass.

Anonymous

lol

smh

“I’ll never hate Red Bull.”
“Advancing a beverage brand.”

No wonder this pale coward wants to stay anonymous lol

Anonymous

This chump is delusional ! Lousy Writer as well with no objectivity ! I am Anonymous ! But i don’t have that shitty logo on my body !

I want to know if he got a Red Bull tat back in 2006 ? If so he might as well get a Cosmos one cause he is eventually gonna go down that road !

AndyK

Lol. Jumping from one marketing project to another. This club is a farm team and a commercial for Man City. Cosmos are the ONLY soccer club that exist solely for the sake of NYC.

Kenito

1. Cosmos don’t play in NYC
2. Cosmos are the epitome of a marketing project. This installment of the Cosmos is nothing more than a purchased logo. It’s kind of like what the Reebok logo/brand is going through currently.

Joe Giddeon

“Community Involvement and Marketing Outreach” LOL This guy is too much of a coward to admit he is just a front-runner even under an anonymous cover. If RBNY had won more titles he would have stayed.

By the way, the “anonymous” person has outed himself. It’s Billy Howell and he’s not from New York City, he’s from Yonkers.

Daniel

Lmao so much hate in these comments. Why are you guys so threatened by NYCFC? I mean it’s just a farm team right? Man City lite?

The real Stan

Because people see that the city may turn blue soon

Anonymous

shut up with the Hate **** already get a new line little boy. You ripped that off another blue balled city lover, can’t even be original.

The real Stan

Honestly I’m RBNYTID but he does make great points

1. Where is the marketing? This is the redbulls and all I hear from anyone that covers RBNY is that they’re on a shoestring budget, shoestring marketing budget will not cut it in NY, let alone NYC

2.RBNY does most of their community work in Jersey, has their training fields in Jersey (why didn’t they place it at least in Yonkers or some place in NY?)

3. Hard to compete with the Yankees, I’m a mets fan and my son went with Yankees simply because he got tired of the mets losing all the time. This is a Jason Kreis team that will have a year to scout and probably work with man city to loan players their way at a bargain so they’ll be competitive if not good.

4. We coined “that’s so metro” their fans and defectors won’t have to defend against that or deal with that rep

All in all I want to see RBNY fighting to keep me as a fan, not waiting in line for hours for a bs hoody, it’s their job to keep us, for example would you go with the pretty girl who acts like you’re alive and values you with or the pretty girl who’s treats you so-so because you can’t do better than her? Right now NYCFC is the pretty girl that notices you. RBNYTID but my son is already a CITYTID guy, RBNY step YOUR GAME UP

Jspech

RBNY fans are freaked out. I love it! Go Cosmos! Heeee heeeee!

Don’t Cross The Line

Enjoy supporting a team owned by the deputy prime minister of UAE…a country that jails members of the LGBT community…Garbs probably should have done a background check on his owner, but I guess he had 100 million reasons not too

Just had this convo with a colleague. EOS’s foundation is in news and breaking stories, but people love to talk about these kinds of human interest bits. Happy to supply both. Thanks for reading!

Larry Sausa

As a New Yorker, I can understand what this fan is feeling. Maybe if I was a Yankees fan, the thought of following a NY Team in my own back yard might be appealing to me. And I do like the new logo. But I am NOT a Yankees fan, I am passionate about my Red Bulls, and I do think that the club cares about us supporters (I am Viking Army). So I will continue to curse the GW Bridge traffic as I make my way over to Red Bull Arena, but also look forward to the derby days between RBNY and NYCFC starting in 2015 and beyond. What a win for NY Soccer.

I completely understand. If New Jersey got it’s own club I’d jump ship immediately too.

Bronx Boy

Good man. I’ve never been able to get into the RBs that much but would never rubbish the true fan of any club.

As for the plastic supporters guff, what exactly are we trying to do here with MLS, talk to ourselves and form cliquey supporters’ clubs or actually grow the bloody sport!

There’ll be a lot of kids going to their FIRST MLS game through this franchise. Frankly the underwhelming gates at RB games – I’ve been to a few games now and never seen the numbers claimed – shows the Jersey club hasn’t been all that successful at that. Let’s give NYCFC a shot and let them succeed/fail on own merits, I’m pretty sure it’ll the former over time.